B
Ben B
Guest
Body-colour bumpstrips!
This weekend's mission has been a learning experience! I Sucessfully managed to paint all my bumpstrips bodycolour (While still on the car), The colour match is good, and despite my usual bad results with laquer (usually it messes up any paint finish I manage to get right) even laquered. (See detail)
Really pleased with the results, though I had a sudden pang of doubt half way through, when I realised this wasn't some old banger like I'm used to driving, and this could make my car look really cheap & crap if it goes wrong!! Don't ask me how but it managed to look great!
The tips I would give are (Pretty obvious!):
• Mask a large area around the strips before any sanding with wet n dry - you don't want to scratch the paint!
• rub down first with 240grit wet n dry. You need to make sure it's nice and even and no deposits/back to black etc could be left on it.
• ALWAYS use plastic-primer. I Picked up the wrong can at one point and it reacts horribly with the plastic!!
• Never touch the cans of paint on the shelf in Halfords, even if your colour's there, get them to mix a can for you (In those larger warehouse-size Halfords).- You get a nice fan of paint as opposed to the circle that the off-the-shelf cans make.
• Carefull the masking doesn't peel any paint off when you remove it - I had to reapint a little area!
• Make sure you mask firmly up to the edges - you dont want any paint creeping under onto the paint you want to keep intact.
• Always spray the laquer in a nice constant flow, as you would the paint- if you try and laquer in little short sprays it'll screw up the paint finish (and colour). I had no luck at all with Halfords brand laquer - A can I bought from Motorspares had a nice wide spray pattern.
Now, Tints!
Dear, oh dear oh dear! I was tinking "How hard can it really be?!!" Silly me!
I bought "light smoke" tinting film (only £13 from a cheapie motor-spares shop (about £16 from halfords-same stuff!!)) One roll is enough for two side windows.
The front ones are no problem cos they're only curved in one direction, remove door cards, all window rubbers and keep everything soaked in saopy water throughout. Cut roughly to shape and squeegy out all bubbles and soap to the edges in final position. (Actually I'm making it sound easy, it's the most frustrating thing ever! Damn bubbles keep creeping back from the edges!)
Finished result- 9/10 There's one little area (tiny) thats a bit blemished. Not bad.
The Back windows were a different story!
I wasn't even going to attempt the rear window, but I thought from the look of them that the rear quarter-windows weren't too curved. It's only when you try and smooth the film over it that huge bubbles creep in from all sides. There's no getting rid of them! I tried blasting areas with a heat gun (Paint stripper type, not a hairdrier!), which works in theory I guess, but it's best left to the professionals, cos the result a got was half perfect, half complete mess of creases and bubbles!! Doh! They got ripped straight off again!
Now I'm left with a car that's tinted front-only! I don't recon it looks odd though - From most angles they still look about as tinted as each other.
I would have like to have mastered it in an afternoon, but I have to say if you don't want to cheapen the look of your car, pay a professional or go for te new front window tint-look (who knows- It might catch on!)
There you go, anyone about to attempt either of these, let me know how you got on, especially if anyone's sucessfully tinted their rear windows. Or does anyone have any advice so I can try again?
(Damn, that's the longest post I've ever written!!)
This weekend's mission has been a learning experience! I Sucessfully managed to paint all my bumpstrips bodycolour (While still on the car), The colour match is good, and despite my usual bad results with laquer (usually it messes up any paint finish I manage to get right) even laquered. (See detail)
Really pleased with the results, though I had a sudden pang of doubt half way through, when I realised this wasn't some old banger like I'm used to driving, and this could make my car look really cheap & crap if it goes wrong!! Don't ask me how but it managed to look great!
The tips I would give are (Pretty obvious!):
• Mask a large area around the strips before any sanding with wet n dry - you don't want to scratch the paint!
• rub down first with 240grit wet n dry. You need to make sure it's nice and even and no deposits/back to black etc could be left on it.
• ALWAYS use plastic-primer. I Picked up the wrong can at one point and it reacts horribly with the plastic!!
• Never touch the cans of paint on the shelf in Halfords, even if your colour's there, get them to mix a can for you (In those larger warehouse-size Halfords).- You get a nice fan of paint as opposed to the circle that the off-the-shelf cans make.
• Carefull the masking doesn't peel any paint off when you remove it - I had to reapint a little area!
• Make sure you mask firmly up to the edges - you dont want any paint creeping under onto the paint you want to keep intact.
• Always spray the laquer in a nice constant flow, as you would the paint- if you try and laquer in little short sprays it'll screw up the paint finish (and colour). I had no luck at all with Halfords brand laquer - A can I bought from Motorspares had a nice wide spray pattern.
Now, Tints!
Dear, oh dear oh dear! I was tinking "How hard can it really be?!!" Silly me!
I bought "light smoke" tinting film (only £13 from a cheapie motor-spares shop (about £16 from halfords-same stuff!!)) One roll is enough for two side windows.
The front ones are no problem cos they're only curved in one direction, remove door cards, all window rubbers and keep everything soaked in saopy water throughout. Cut roughly to shape and squeegy out all bubbles and soap to the edges in final position. (Actually I'm making it sound easy, it's the most frustrating thing ever! Damn bubbles keep creeping back from the edges!)
Finished result- 9/10 There's one little area (tiny) thats a bit blemished. Not bad.
The Back windows were a different story!
I wasn't even going to attempt the rear window, but I thought from the look of them that the rear quarter-windows weren't too curved. It's only when you try and smooth the film over it that huge bubbles creep in from all sides. There's no getting rid of them! I tried blasting areas with a heat gun (Paint stripper type, not a hairdrier!), which works in theory I guess, but it's best left to the professionals, cos the result a got was half perfect, half complete mess of creases and bubbles!! Doh! They got ripped straight off again!
Now I'm left with a car that's tinted front-only! I don't recon it looks odd though - From most angles they still look about as tinted as each other.
I would have like to have mastered it in an afternoon, but I have to say if you don't want to cheapen the look of your car, pay a professional or go for te new front window tint-look (who knows- It might catch on!)
There you go, anyone about to attempt either of these, let me know how you got on, especially if anyone's sucessfully tinted their rear windows. Or does anyone have any advice so I can try again?
(Damn, that's the longest post I've ever written!!)
